Council of American Jewish Museums
          E-News | December 2013   
 
In This Issue
Retreat Brochure Available
Culture & Community Sessions
Milestone for the Sherwin Miller
Visiting Two Museums
Rudolph Joins the Maltz
AEJM Conference
CAJM is ... 
Jewish art and history museums, historic sites, historical and archival societies, Holocaust centers, synagogue museums, Jewish Community Center galleries, children's museums, and university galleries ...  the professionals and volunteers who work in them ...  the children, adults, and families who visit them ...  the patrons who support them ...  the organization that keeps them vital.

 

RETREAT/FORWARD CONFERENCE BROCHURE

Below you'll find information about two thought-provoking sessions and two exciting site visits that are part of the CAJM retreat scheduled for March 23-25, 2014 at the Bon Secours Retreat & Conference Center near Baltimore. If you have not done so already, peruse or print the brochure for all of the event details and register online or via mail, email or fax. 

 

EXPLORING TWO KINDS OF "LANDSCAPE"

It can be challenging to keep up with our rapidly changing world, but two sessions at the upcoming retreat will zero in on trends directly influencing our museums. Marcia Semmel (left), former Acting Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, will lead an up-to-the-minute discussion of The Changing Cultural and Social Landscape, examining how changing demographics, participatory culture, new ways of learning and communicating, and new forms of cultural production and consumption are impacting museum missions, strategies, and practices. A complementary session will look at Changing (Jewish) Communities. As traditional Jewish structures and networks are affected by entrepreneurial social and religious groups, and as funding becomes increasingly complicated, how do Jewish museums fit in? In what ways do we matter and to whom? Distinguished panel members will include Steven M. Cohen, Professor of Jewish Social Policy, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion , and Director, Berman Jewish Policy Archive, NYU Wagner (right); and Sanford Cardin, President, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Philanthropic Network.

 

AAM ACCREDITATION FOR TWO MEMBERS

Mazel tov to the staff and board of the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa, OK. The Miller was among eight museums recently accredited by the American Alliance of Museums - a significant professional honor and milestone. The museum accreditation program is our field's primary vehicle for quality assurance, self-regulation and public accountability, signifying excellence to the museum community, funders, and the public. Our hats are off to you, and also to the Jewish Museum of Maryland, which was one of four museums that earned re-accreditation.

 

VISIT BALTIMORE MUSEUMS PRIOR TO RETREAT

Speaking of the Jewish Museum of Maryland: You'll have an opportunity to visit this exemplary cultural institution on Sunday morning, March 23, before the retreat begins in the afternoon. The day will start at the American Visionary Art Museum  (right), located on Baltimore's beautiful harbor. Founder-Director Rebecca Alban Hoffberger will welcome CAJM to the world's largest museum of visionary art, designated by Congress as America's national repository for self-taught, intuitive artistry. Then, at the JMM, Executive Director and CAJM Retreat Host Chair Marvin Pinkert will provide a special guided tour of the museum's two National Register synagogues and its two core exhibitions, Voices of Lombard Street (left) and The Synagogue Speaks, followed by a brunch reception. Don't miss these special optional pre-retreat experiences.

 

NEW DIRECTOR AT THE MALTZ 

Ellen A. Rudolph is the new Executive Director at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Cleveland. She has been a curator and administrator in museums, at Sotheby's New York, and at the Progressive Corporation of Cleveland, and she has managed private art collections. Since 2008, with several curatorial titles, she has organized contemporary art exhibitions at the Akron Art Museum. Welcoming her, Maltz Museum co-founder and board chairman Milton Maltz made note of her "broadly inclusive perspective informed by her interest in and understanding of the nature of cultural identity." Best wishes to this new CAJM colleague.

 

EUROPEAN JEWISH MUSEUMS CONVENE 

The Association of European Jewish Museums held its annual conference, Where We Are: Site, Space and Context, last month, with attendees from throughout the continent, the U.S., and Israel. Sessions took place at the Jewish museums in Munich, Germany and Hohenems, Austria; a side trip to Switzerland visited the Jewish Museum of Switzerland in Basel and the Braginsky Collection in Zurich. CAJM colleagues Karen Franklin, Lou Levine, and Eric Chaim Kline were part of the assembly. Follow this link to read AEJM President Hanno Loewy's report on the conference and recent AEJM activities.

 

LET US PUT A SPOTLIGHT ON YOU

CAJM offers resources for learning all year round on our website and at our annual conference; models professional standards; offers opportunities for information exchange; and works on behalf of Jewish museums and museums with Jewish content, like the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. IHMEC fosters the promotion of human rights and the elimination of genocide through exhibitions, education programs, and the preservation and interpretation of its collections.
 
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